On Temperaments and Flowers
by TuRtLe88
Summary: Elijah muses on the personalities of his younger siblings while explaining flowery insults to Caroline. Mentions of Klaroline. A one-shot that takes place in the universe of my story "La Belle et la bete". Rating for language.


**A/N: This is connected to my chaptered story "La Belle et la bête" although it's not technically necessary to read that to understand this. This is my attempt at a character piece of sorts and is told from Elijah's perspective. Let me just say, writing Elijah is a lot like writing Snape except with Snape you get to be acerbic and vile and it's amazing whereas Elijah's such a gentleman and it makes him more difficult. And seriously, coming from the Harry Potter fandom, writing Snape is one of the most difficult things to hit just right. The idea behind this story is a little headcanon that I came up with back when I first watched the Vampire Diaries with my friend in college. While I have no real idea how the Victorian Flower Language works and have done all of zero research on it, I think it's a cute idea. I apologize for any mistakes in the vague concept I constructed, and also spelling/grammar things. This is unbeta'd but I have gone through and edited for any glaring mistakes that I could find.**

 _Disclaimer: I don't own The Vampire Diaries or the Originals or any characters/situations from the show. Anything recognizable is not mine, I'm just happy to loan the characters out to play with_.

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 **On Temperaments and Flowers**

Elijah let out a sigh at the monstrosity in front of him. Some might suggest that a thousand years at his brother's side had left him with the patience of a saint. Someone had to be calm and collected when Niklaus' werewolf tendencies made their presence known. Someone had to be the rational one that people entreated for mercy when his brother was on a tear for vengeance. Usually, that someone was Elijah.

He had spent the day being just such a brother, speaking with Marcel about the plans they were putting in motion, the progress they were making toward finally securing New Orleans for Klaus once and for all. He was doing all of this, of course, because Niklaus' hot temper had gotten him cursed into his wolf form during daylight hours over a month previous. Never let it be said that Elijah wasn't a patient man.

But really, Kol was so heavy-handed and obvious. Elijah ejected another heavy sigh. Couldn't the insufferable little brat have at least picked something that didn't look so awful? If Elijah were prone to cursing or fits of anger like his younger siblings, he likely would have been sputtering like a madman at this point. He had a whole week in which to cringe every time he laid eyes on Kol's handiwork. And since the arrangement was placed just outside his bedroom door, it was going to be a long week.

Elijah knew that his younger siblings saw him as boring and stiff. His sense of humor, while not nearly as pathetic as Finn's had been, was somewhat lacking in their estimation. He could only be thankful for the fact that he was in on the joke, a part of it, even. Finn had always been the butt of the joke. Elijah was expected, if not to laugh and joke along with the others, to at least understand and appreciate the joke.

He understood, of course. He and the younger Originals were all well-versed with the Victorian Flower Language. Niklaus had found it a good joke during the appropriate era to do this same thing. And really, that's where this all had started. In the nineteenth century, the hybrid had started sending Elijah vague insults with floral arrangements. Elijah had never brought it up, but his younger brother's telling grin every time he spotted the artfully arranged plants had been the only evidence Elijah had needed.

Somehow, it had evolved to this. Niklaus, Rebekah, and Kol rotated responsibilities for the vase of flowers their cleaning woman put outside of his bedroom every week. Why, just the week previous, Rebekah had been responsible for a beautiful, sweet insult that had made Elijah grin when he'd puzzled it out. This effort from Kol was the Victorian equivalent of the middle finger with all the subtlety and finesse of the gesture.

"Did someone blind take care of your flowers this week?" Caroline asked as she passed Elijah in the hallway, probably heading to see Niklaus the wolf where he anxiously paced his studio. Elijah liked the young vampire; she was a good fit for his younger brother. She was polite and mannered and everything a young southern lady ought to be when it fit her needs, but she was also stubborn and blunt and met Niklaus head-on when he needed to be challenged. And Niklaus always needed to be challenged.

"Kol's handiwork, I'm afraid," Elijah grimaced. "He lacks subtlety."

"It looks like he lacks functioning eyeballs to me," Caroline replied, her own eyes rolling heavenward. Elijah had watched Niklaus elicit such reactions from the young woman for his own amusement many times before. Elijah wondered what it was in the gesture that had his brother in such raptures.

"It suits his message," Elijah informed the girl. She quirked a well-manicured eyebrow in question. "He used Victorian Flower Language," Elijah added in explanation. The girl had been born a century and a half too late and in the wrong country for it to mean much of anything to her.

"And what was Kol trying to say? That he has zero taste?" Caroline guessed. Elijah chuckled which made her smile. Maybe his siblings weren't the only ones who were trying to coax his latent humor from hiding.

"The meaning he intended is akin to giving me the middle finger," Elijah responded.

"It's literally just a big fuck you?" Caroline asked incredulously. When he nodded, she let out a soft, sweet laugh that Elijah knew was a sound Niklaus lived for. The younger had admitted to pulling ridiculous stunts just to hear that laugh. "That is so Kol," she shook her head.

Elijah caught a glance at Kol's arrangement again and barely suppressed a groan. "Just so. Artless and brash is our Kol."

"Do the others do this too, or just Kol?" Caroline asked, gesturing to the offending vase.

"The others participate as well. Though their attempts are much more pleasant than… this." He had no words for what Kol had done.

"Well, duh," Caroline rolled her eyes again. A grin Elijah recognized from his brother's repertoire lit her face. "I bet Rebekah's are always gorgeous and well thought out and definitely backhanded insults," the girl guessed. Elijah was surprised by how spot on she was.

He nodded in agreement. "Last week, her offering read something like, 'Compared to Finn, you are full of excitement,'" he gave as an example.

She giggled. "Very Rebekah," she agreed. "And Klaus? He probably uses obscure ones, huh? Makes you work for the dig he's making."

Elijah smiled at how well she knew Niklaus, and how just talking about him made her glow. He was happy that after all these centuries, his cynical younger brother had finally found a love more real than any of the hundreds Elijah had felt in all of his years. Niklaus, in his effort to completely close his heart off to what he perceived as the greatest weakness a vampire faced, had managed to secure something Elijah's open heart had never given him a chance at.

"His are always impressive. He combines the stark art of Japanese Ikebana with the flowery—pun intended—Western flower culture. Half of the humor of his come from just how much he likes the contrast of the two arts. And if he gets a chance to disparage my character also? Well, all the better." Elijah shook his head.

The smile that spread across Caroline's face as they spoke of Niklaus was very telling. Through some twist of fate, Caroline had managed to see his brother for the man he was instead of the monster he portrayed. Where others sought to find more reasons to despise the most infamous Original sibling, Caroline looked for stories about Niklaus' human side. The loving brother, the troubled artist, the wounded animal.

"It must have been on Mikael's side, then, if Kol is the only one born with a lack of taste," Caroline joked lamely. She must have noticed Elijah's survey of her and been aware of just what he had seen.

"Niklaus is pacing in the studio by the sound of things," Elijah returned. His brother was not keen on sharing at the best times and, innocent as their conversation had been, Elijah imagined Niklaus could turn it easily into something to be jealous of. It was best if he went back to the polite distance he maintained with Caroline and the rest of the world.

"I heard," she agreed.

"I must get to the study," Elijah headed in the opposite direction.

"I should really do my homework," she admitted sullenly, heading not toward Niklaus' studio, but toward his bedroom instead.

Elijah felt that it was one of those moments where he had bid farewell, but they still had a ways to travel in the same direction—much further than he'd realized.

Outside his brother's bedroom, he felt pause. There was a flower arrangement here as there was across from his own doorway, only this one was beautiful in both design and meaning.

Caroline caught him staring at the flowers. "Klaus picked them out," she explained. "He didn't say anything, of course, I just noticed the list on the desk the other day in his handwriting and then these showed up today."

"Did he tell you what they meant?" Elijah asked.

She shook her head. "Honestly, I think he's embarrassed. He doesn't like to give me presents face-to-face. Prefers the drop and run method. At best, I get a nice little message. At worst, I get an antique diamond bracelet on my bed when I get home from school." She shrugged, conveying more with her shoulders than she did with her words. Whatever Niklaus gifted her with, she would treasure it, likely much to her great annoyance.

"The flowers mean something along the lines of, 'My love, you are the greatest part of me,'" he informed her, aiming for a simple, no nonsense tone. He wasn't certain he'd quite hit the mark.

Her eyes glittered with happiness and tears. Elijah wondered at just what kind of loves she had before Niklaus if this had her so moved. But then, she seemed to understand Niklaus in a way that few did, and she probably knew that this was something he could do only for her.

"Klaus!" she cried softly. Niklaus had the best hearing of any of them because of his dual nature. In his wolf form, the sense was heightened further.

The wolf that was Elijah's brother swiftly stalked across the hallway. He'd probably heard the distress in her voice, and by the glare he shot at Elijah, it was easy to see who he blamed.

Caroline launching herself at his furry form disabused him of that notion quite quickly. She wrapped her arms tight around his front half, burying her face in the fur at his neck. "You big, dumb idiot," she whispered into him. He nuzzled against her in reply.

Elijah was happy to see his younger brother finally accepting love but knew better than to intrude on the couple's happy moment. He retreated to his study, just as he said he would, but it was still a few minutes before he could return to his calm, collected persona. Niklaus happy was a sight to behold and it made Elijah happy to think that this might last.

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